George Seeley hands captain's armband to 'massive leader' Jack Duggan after four years as Knowle skipper

George Seeley says he has officially handed the captain’s armband to Jack Duggan after four years as Knowle skipper.

Seeley became captain in 2022 and has since overseen back-to-back promotions, a treble-winning season at Step Six and an incredible start to life in Step Five.

But he has often found himself doing too much for his liking, and wants to put time and energy into improving his own game.

“I’ve decided to take a step back,” he explained, after Knowle made it five wins from their first five league matches with a dramatic 2-1 victory at Rugby Town.

“I think I probably get a bit too involved in it sometimes, especially with my old man (Clive Seeley) and my cousin (Matt Seeley) being the joint-managers, and I just felt that sometimes I wasn’t concentrating on my performances as much as I could have been. It’s been a great four years (as captain) but I just want to focus on my football.”

He added: “I just want to try and enjoy my football as much as I can - I’m 28 now so I haven’t got many years left!”

As far as replacements go, they don’t come much better than Duggan.

The experienced defender is always the loudest voice on the pitch and a leader in the dressing room, so it feels like natural progression for Duggan to physically wear the armband.

“Duggan has been a very good vice and he’s a massive leader in the dressing room. He’s felt like the joint-captain anyway, to be honest - we’re a very steady ship,” Seeley commented.

“I’m just going to try and enjoy football, and enjoy Step Five.”

Duggan scored his first goal 12 minutes into his first game as captain by rising highest to head home from Hayden Purves’ left-wing corner, and expertly marshalled Rugby target man Rivel Mardenborough alongside fellow centre-back Ethan Green.

Knowle now face a very tight 46-hour turnaround to their next game, where they host Lutterworth Town at The Robins’ Nest on Bank Holiday Monday (3pm).